Borders and Immigration Control

Even as his Health Care reform plans struggle, President Obama, speaking from the North American summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, said Monday that his administration will pursue a comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. immigration system, but that no action on legislation will happen before 2010.

What does the President envision? Here’s a synopsis:

… Obama said that there needs to be “a pathway to citizenship” for millions of illegal immigrants in the United States, and that the system must be reworked to avoid tensions with Mexico. Without it, he said, Mexicans will keep crossing the border in dangerous ways and employers will continue exploiting workers.

“We can create a system in which you have . . . an orderly process for people to come in, but we’re also giving an opportunity for those who are already in the United States to be able to achieve a pathway to citizenship so that they don’t have to live in the shadows,” Obama said during an hour-long news conference at the Cabañas Cultural Center in downtown Guadalajara. “Am I going to be able to snap my fingers and get this done? No. This is going to be difficult.”

So, nothing new here, except that the President has established a pattern of talking up immigration reform, here with a few details of what he wants, a multifaceted approach. Of note: the article linked here indicates from the title that Obama will focus on border control, when in fact the body of the article suggests the opposite.